Our Beginning
by BrittzandTana
Summary: PROBABLY WILL NOT BE COMPLETED, but marked complete. Carmilla Web-Series FF! - Laura's first college roommate, Carmilla, is not at all what she expects her to be... And after Laura decides that she needs Carmilla's help for a journalism project, neither of them can deny that there's just something about the other... LAURA/CARMILLA (HOLLSTEIN) M for Mild Themes :) AU, AH
1. Welcome To Silas

**A/N: Hi! Whoa! I'm writing another FF?**

**Yes. Don't question it. I'm crazy.**

**Ayy I'm Tana, for anyone who doesn't already know me! I'm a crazy lesbian fangirl who can't stop writing Fanfiction for more than like a day before shit goes crazy. I've written for Glee (Brittana, Quinntana, Dantana), Faking It (Karmy), and PLL (Emison)... c:**

**So Carmilla. Yeah, I heard about it last weekend from my friend (shoutout to my friend bc she's prob reading this). On Monday I started watching Carmilla... Couldn't watch it all in one sitting because life got in the way, but I finished S1 on Tuesday, and since then, I literally can't get it out of my mind. I'm sort of obsessed with Elise Bauman (BC SHE IS THE MOST ADORABLE CANADIAN EVER) *whispers* sorry Shay...**

**Ummm where was I? Yeah so I ship Laura and Carmilla (Hollstein?) with such passion, and you know, Fanfiction was basically calling me. So I started trying to read Hollstein FF, and after reading like 2 short ones I was like okay yeah I'm writing this shit.**

**So this first chapter (as well as the second chapter, which I have already written) feels sort of like word vomit to me, but it all somehow made sense. I can't promise that all of the characters are perfectly in character - bc yeah. But... ANYWAY!**

**Italic sections will be flashbacks/dreams... IF I put them in the story ever.**

**Bolds are texts/emails/signs... such things shall be very clear when they occur.**

**Story is 3rd person. First chapter is all Laura centered, 2nd is split with Laura and Carmilla... it'll basically jump around.**

**Um so yeah. I give shoutouts to every 50th reviewer (not sure how many reviewers I'll even get on this story bc Idk how popular Hollstein FF is?) But you know, I'm writing because I love it so it doesn't really matter. I mean, I LOVE reviews, and they make me super happy, so you def should review ;)**

**What else... um... well... oh man I'm awkward today.**

**So I hope that you guys like it c:**

**Disclaimer: I def do not own Carmilla bc I'm not that fabulous... yet...**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!? :)**

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Laura set her last box on her already made bed in the tiny dorm room. She hadn't had a ton of stuff—it was a small enough amount that it fit neatly into her car—so she had insisted that her dad not drive to the school with her. She wanted to feel grown up. Isn't that what every girl wants after growing up with an extremely protective dad for her whole life?

Nevertheless, as she looked down at her unpacked boxes, she let out a light sigh. She wished that she had asked her dad to come along. She already missed him.

She couldn't stay in her tiny self pity party for long, though, because the whole building was alive with noise. Move in day was crazy, as it should be, Laura supposed. She left her door hanging open, because she figured that her roommate would be coming in soon with all of her stuff, and Laura was already trying to be the good roommate. She was always like that of course—trying to be extremely nice to everyone. That's just who she was.

That was one of the reasons why she was slightly worried about meeting her new roommate. Some people found her to be nerdy or annoying or too talkative, and she didn't know how comfortable she would be living with someone who thought of her like that. However, that didn't really mean that she needed someone completely like her to move in. No, that would probably be a bad idea for the whole building. But she needed to live with someone who was at least neat and polite. She didn't even really care if she ended up being friends with her—her two best friend slots were completely filled anyway. And, lucky for her, both Perry and LaFontaine already went to Silas University. Laura had delayed school for a year, and she was sort of glad that she had, because now, she had her two best friends to help her get used to everything.

Laura had only opened one box at this point—the first one she had brought in, the one that she had opened up and emptied in order to make her bed. The rest were now sprawled on top of the bed, or sitting against the edge of it, waiting to be opened. Laura knew that she had the whole weekend to unpack before classes started, but she wanted to get it done sooner rather than later. Perhaps it was part of her organizing OCD, which wasn't really that bad if it was compared to Perry's cleaning OCD, or maybe part of her need to be a good roommate. Either way, she took a deep breath and opened her next box.

As she began unpacking everything and putting her clothes and toiletries away as neatly as possible, she imagined that she looked like one of those sped up videos people always saw on the internet. That thought kept her from going crazy about unpacking, and soon enough, she was completely done.

Someone kept going down the hall, back and forth, calling for empty boxes. Laura had no idea what the guy needed them for, but she gladly handed hers over. They were just taking up extra room, and it wasn't like boxes were expensive to buy if she needed one sometime.

In the hallway, Laura glanced around, looking for a stray person looking for their room. Nobody was bouncing around through the halls anymore, aside from the box guy, so Laura figured that most everyone should have found their room at this point. But she was still without a roommate. And sure, not having a roommate wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but Laura had gotten herself all excited over the idea, and she was sort of bummed at realizing that if her roommate hadn't shown up yet, she probably didn't even exist.

Laura didn't even have to look at the clock to know that it was getting late—besides her amazing internal clock, she was exhausted, and ready to sleep. She forced herself to accept her lack of roommate, and grabbed some pajamas, before stepping into her bathroom to get ready for bed.

It was approximately twenty minutes later—when Laura was all clean and dressed for bed—that she exited the bathroom to see a young woman sprawled across the second bed of the dorm room. Seeing a person in there actually quite terrified Laura, because she really had stopped expecting someone to walk in. "Oh!" she squealed, seeing the girl, who was tapping away on her cell phone carelessly. "Sorry! I didn't realize I had a roommate."

"That's generally how it works when you're living in a two person dorm room, cupcake," the dark haired girl deadpanned. Laura blinked, surprised at the immediately sarcastic tone and the strange nickname. Perhaps Laura's comment hadn't been clear.

"No, I knew that I was supposed to have one, I just didn't think anyone was coming—everyone stopped arriving like two hours ago," Laura explained herself, hoping for a more polite response this time around. The pale girl with dark brown hair looked away from her phone and up at Laura with slightly intimidating brown eyes. This girl's hair and eyes were joined by an almost entirely black outfit. Laura could already tell that this was a girl that she was unlikely to get along with. As Laura started to become uncomfortable with having her roommate's eyes stuck on her, the dark haired woman finally moved her gaze back to her phone. "Umm… so what's your name?"

Laura moved to sit on her bed as she waited for an answer, noting that the girl had already closed and locked the door while Laura had been in the shower. "Carmilla," the other said, scrolling through whatever it was she was so intently staring at.

"Well, nice to meet you, Carmilla," Laura said politely. "I'm Laura."

"Good for you, creampuff," Carmilla commented, seeming to be completely ignoring the blonde.

Laura, annoyed at this point, cleared her throat. "Well, while you were arriving late, I finished in the bathroom, so it's open for you." Carmilla, of course, didn't bother to answer. Laura rolled her eyes as she slid her legs under the blankets on her bed. She rested her head on her yellow pillow and squeezed her eyes shut to ignore the fact that the light was still on.

Possibly ten minutes later, she heard Carmilla finally get off of her bed and head into the bathroom. However, she didn't go in until she had turned off the lamps around the room. And Laura heard Carmilla go into the bathroom and the shower running, she couldn't help the small, slightly perplexed smile that appeared on her face as she realized that her seemingly very annoying and rude roommate had just turned off the lights for her.

"What do you think of Silas so far?" Perry eagerly questioned Laura the next morning. They were sitting in the campus coffee shop, at around noon. Laura hadn't seen her two best friends since she'd arrived, and it was nice to hang out with them again finally.

"Well, the energy is definitely refreshing, compared to being back home," Laura answered, smiling.

"How's your roommate?" LaFontaine wondered.

Laura shrugged. "I don't really know. She came in late last night, and when I tried to introduce myself, she was pretty rude. Not to mention that she left the bathroom a mess before she went to sleep last night, so this morning, while she was still sound asleep on her side of the room, I had to pick my way through _her_ mess just to get ready!"

"Okay, there, Hollis," LaFontaine calmed her down, "there's no need to rant in run on sentences."

"What's your roommate's name?" Perry asked. "Sometimes you can get switched into a new room, you know?"

"Carmilla, and even if she does seem like a bad roommate so far, I don't think I need to switch rooms," Laura admitted. "I mean, I spent forever unpacking all of my stuff yesterday. I already have my computer set up on the wall, and my armoire is already full of my clothes. It would suck to move it all now, not to mention that I don't want to really be seen as a bad sport on my second day on a college campus."

"Okay, but you said she's _messy_? How are you going to survive?" Perry demanded.

"Perry, not everyone is as OCD clean as you are, remember?" Laura reminded her, shaking her head and smiling fondly at her friend, before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She wasn't a coffee, or any caffeine at all, kind of girl. "Anyway. What sort of stuff are we supposed to do this weekend? Classes haven't started yet, and I've already seen where all of mine are."

"It's our last few days of freedom, L!" LaFontaine reminded her. "They're throwing an end of summer party tonight."

"Who are _they_?" Laura asked.

"She means the Zetas," Perry interrupted in order to explain, "the fraternity guys. They throw huge parties all the time. And if you combine those with the excessive need for every single organization or part of this school to throw parties at every excess moment, there's basically some sort of party on campus every other night. And I'm not exaggerating."

"Sounds like those will be the nights that I will be studying then," Laura stated.

"Why do you say that?" LaFontaine asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Carmilla totally looks like a party girl, so she'll probably be out at all of those things," Laura answered, giving a small shrug as she took another sip of her hot chocolate.

Perry looked confused. "Well, why do you need her to be gone to study?"

Laura blinked. "Uh, I don't know. She's just rude, and I would prefer to not have to try to focus while she's doing what rude people do." That, just as it sounded like, was a complete excuse for something that Laura didn't want to admit. Carmilla, despite her dragging tone and her sarcastic remarks, was admittedly very attractive. And considering how she was pretty sure that Carmilla had been wearing _black leather pants_ the previous night… yeah.

"Uh huh," LaFontaine agreed sarcastically, glancing at Perry with knowing eyes. Laura shook her head.

"I'm going to go back to my dorm and finish unpacking," she declared, standing up.

"I thought you finished last night," Perry commented, a suspicious look covering her face. Laura didn't acknowledge the question, because she was obviously already busted for trying to escape a conversation that she'd rather not have.

Instead, she finished with a polite, "I'll see you guys later," and proceeded to leave the coffee shop.

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**Sooooo yeah that happened... Omg why am I so worried about this. Okay yeah uh... I'm sorry if it was awkward. Omg.**

**;D So tell me what you thought? Reviews are amazing, PMs are great :D Idk, I just wanna know how you guys feel about it. I plan on continuing. I can't promise any update schedules, because as some of you know, I have 3 other WIP stories and some on hold for when one of them finishes (lol).**

**Speaking of which, CYSM will be updated this weekend (this probably will be as well), and the next thing on my lineup to work on is IDDA, because it's been longer since I updated that than SOWK...**

**Anyway...**

**I really need to be doing homework. Sooooo I'm gonna go do that. :)**

**Have a great night/day/morning lovelies! I would love to hear feedback on what you thought! So, please review maybe? :) xxxxxxx**


	2. To Party Or Not To Party?

**A/N: Hello fellow Creampuffs and Hollstein shippers :)**

**So as I've been writing this, I've discovered that I'm working better with shorter chapters. Maybe it's because I'm accustomed to watching such short periods of time when it comes to this show? Lol, either way, some of the chapters will be pretty short (though always over 1k words because shorter than that shouldn't ever constitute a chapter), but I do see some chapters being longer.**

**If anyone has noticed (thought I doubt it because there have only been 3 followers but eh), I changed the summary for this story, because I finally set in stone what I want this story to be. ^.^**

**Sooooo**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Carmilla.**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! :)**

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Laura was actually quite relieved when she got back to her dorm room, because Carmilla was nowhere in sight—she even checked the bathroom to be extra sure. So she closed the dorm room door and got on her computer. She was pretty unsure of what she was supposed to be doing until classes started. College for her had always felt like a faraway thing, and now that it was here, it felt like it should just be school. But the thing is, it wasn't _just_ school. It was life. She lived in it, she would have to work in it, and she was schooled in it. This was her life for the next four years.

Before she could do anything on her computer, the door to her dorm opened suddenly, completely startling her. Laura spun around on her chair, and her eyes fell on Carmilla, who seemed completely unfazed by seeing Laura here.

As Carmilla closed the door behind her, going straight to her armoire and looking through her clothing, Laura just watched carefully. Finally, out of curiosity and the sliver of hope that she had that Carmilla wasn't going to turn out to be a terrible roommate, she questioned, "What are you looking for?"

Carmilla didn't answer.

"You know, if we're going to be living with each other for the next year, shouldn't we at least learn how to make conversation?" Laura demanded, raising her eyebrows and pushing some of her blonde hair out of her face.

"Oh, I know how to make conversation," Carmilla stated.

Laura rolled her eyes up in exasperation, but she wasn't giving up yet. "Look, I know I'm not the ideal roommate. I'm sort of talkative and I actually do like to have friends, but I'm trying to be pleasant. And in return, you're being pretty rude."

"Am I?" Carmilla drawled, still looking through her clothes. Laura huffed, giving up, and turned back to her computer, opening her browser and trying to do something to make herself look busy. Then, as Laura was about to start reading some AfterEllen article, Carmilla said, "I'm looking for a party outfit."

Laura slowly spun her chair around to face Carmilla who, in the meantime, was still looking only in her armoire. "For the end of summer party thing tonight?"

"Yeah, some guy named Kirsch invited me," Carmilla admitted, sounding bored. "He literally said 'Hey, scary hottie! Come to the Zetas party tonight!'"

Laura managed a small laugh, because she really wasn't sure what she was supposed to say in response. After awkwardly coughing, she said, "Yeah, I think my friends are going to that."

"So will I see you there then, cupcake?" Carmilla questioned, and if Laura hadn't known better, she would have said that Carmilla's tone was nothing but flirty.

"Oh, I don't know," Laura answered, shrugging bashfully. "I don't think that I'm really up for it."

"You'd rather spend your last free days before college on that computer?" Carmilla questioned, finally looking up and over at Laura, who suddenly felt her face flush.

"Ah…" Shyly, she brushed some hair out of her face. "I've never been to a frat party. The Zetas are all fraternity boys, aren't they?"

Not answering her question, which was fine since Laura already knew the answer, Carmilla asked, "You've really never been to a frat party?" As Laura shook her head slowly, the darker haired girl finally pulled some clothing out of her wardrobe, tossing it over and onto her bed. "Man, you are uptight."

"Hey, I _just_ started college, okay?" Laura defended herself.

"So? You're _obviously_ not an eighteen year old fresh out of high school," Carmilla reasoned. The way she stretched the word 'obviously' made Laura blush, although she was frustrated at herself for doing so.

"_So_, during my time between high school and coming to college, I was living with my extremely protective dad who would have a heart attack if I went to a frat party at all—especially if I had gone while I was living with him," Laura answered, crossing her arms and sitting up slightly straighter. "And I'm _not_ uptight. I'm just…"

"Uptight," Carmilla finished for her, before walking over to the door and leaning against the wall. "You can't deny it, cutie. You should go to the party. That way you can officially become a college girl before starting college."

Before Laura could say anything else about it, Carmilla was out the door. Where she was going was lost to Laura, since the frat party wasn't starting for hours. Shaking her head, Laura looked back at her computer. She didn't do anything on it, however, instead finding herself thinking about her roommate. She thought that she should be more annoyed at the fact that Carmilla kept calling her food nicknames—anyone would get bothered by that—but she found that it wasn't actually making her very mad. It was almost like she was already sort of used to her weird roommate. She just hoped that it would stay that way, because she didn't want a bad relationship with Carmilla. That would make living on campus a complete and total nightmare.

She turned and glanced at Carmilla's bed, noting the outfit that she had selected to wear for the party that night. Black pants—they looked leather again—and a black crop top. It was predictable, even after knowing Carmilla for only less than twenty four hours. Despite the simplicity of it, though, Laura immediately visualized Carmilla in the outfit and… _wow_.

She shook the thought out of her head, though, because she knew that physical attraction meant nothing when two people were such polar opposites. Which, clearly they were. Carmilla was rude and messy and carefree. Laura was polite and neat and careful. Polar opposites.

But, that didn't change how attractive Laura found Carmilla, and therefore the fact that if she went to the party, Laura would not be able to stop staring. Shaking her head again and looking to her computer, she told herself, "Gosh, Laura. Just stop thinking like that. Just… no."

She finally started to read her AfterEllen article, and she successfully avoided thinking about Carmilla for about five minutes.

Laura could already tell that this was going to be a problem.

Carmilla was having a blast. Less than a day of being at this stupid, tiny, isolated little college, and she was already having a great time. Granted, that great time came from messing with her roommate's head, but so what?

And it wasn't like it was completely intentional—Carmilla just had that effect on people sometimes. And it wasn't Carmilla's fault that Laura was just super cute about it. She started off looking all angry, with this little scrunched up face that Carmilla had definitely not failed to notice. Then, once she gave up, she tried to look impartial, but she ended up just making a completely adorable face.

That face was the only reason why Carmilla even started talking to the girl—and that's where all games stopped with her. Carmilla hadn't dated anyone since her early high school career, and that wasn't something that she liked to talk about. Since then, however, she hadn't ever met someone that she immediately took a liking to.

Well, except for now—her tiny blonde roommate.

Sure, Carmilla didn't really know a whole lot about the girl, but she knew that she would end up finding out. Mostly because Laura seemed determined to force some sort of friendship—or at least friendliness—but also because Carmilla actually found herself wanting to know about her roommate.

Yeah, it was a bit out of the norm for her, but she didn't really care. Carmilla was pretty adamant about not letting other people's opinions of her sway her from following what she wanted to do. And right now, she wanted to get to know Laura.

That didn't mean that she wanted to turn all mushy around Laura, which she totally saw happened if they got in too long of a conversation. Was that a contributing factor to her walking out of the room when she really had no planned destination? Possibly.

She ended up just walking to the coffee shop to get some caffeine, but the whole time she was walking, she was thinking about Laura. Yeah, she sort of liked the girl, and yes she wanted to get to know her, but there was definitely a part of her that was hesitant to do either of those things.

Carmilla had a past that she hated to think about, let alone tell anyone about it. It was perhaps why she often came off of as so invulnerable. Walls were something that she had become accustomed to, but it wasn't like all those cheesy love stories where a girl builds her walls so high that she needs people to help her knock them down—Carmilla could get over her walls in a single leap. She had just become really good at avoiding that option.

Something about Laura though… it was like half of her walls disappeared of their own accord, making it much easier for Carmilla to slip up and get over them. And she knew that things like that could potentially be very problematic.

Which is why by the time she got to the coffee shop, she decided that she didn't need any caffeine at all. However, since she didn't want to walk back into her dorm with no legitimate alibi for leaving, she bought a hot chocolate instead. She almost considered buying one for Laura, but she immediately vetoed any idea like that. No, that was not her.

She almost started to feel nervous as she headed back to her dorm, too, but she forced any such nerves away.

What was happening to her?

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**Sooooo to anyone who is reading this - review maybe please? I did get one on the first chapter - and it was positive - so thanks for that :) **

**It's nearing midnight, and I'm suddenly getting the urge to exercise, so I guess that's what I'm going to go do after this.. random, but eh.**

**I've got most all of this story planned out to a T :) (hehe, T for Tana)... After this weekend, updates could be anywhere from daily to weekly. I have 3 other WIP stories, two of which I'm already really behind on, so I can't focus all of my attention over here.**

**Alrighty, so goodnight lovelies! :) Please review!**


	3. The Journalism Project From Hell

**A/N: So some of the chapters that I have written so far for this story have ended up shorter than intended, but they SHOULD get longer. Nevertheless, though, thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Carmilla :P**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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"So, are you going to give in and go to the party tonight?" LaFontaine asked from the other end of the line. Laura rolled her eyes up as she sighed.

"No," she answered. She had decided that she wasn't going after her conversation with Carmilla, and she had finalized said decision when her rude, possibly flirty roommate had returned to the dorm, unspeaking, and had showered and changed into that party outfit.

"Aw come on," LaFontaine complained, "you're not in high school anymore, Laura."

Laura furrowed her eyebrows. "I _know_ that. I'm just not comfortable with going to the frat party. I need to get ready for classes coming up."

"Fine," LaFontaine gave in. "I'm getting a call from Perry—there's probably some student crisis to attend to."

"Well, we'll talk later," Laura said, almost happy about the end of the call. She didn't want to talk about her reasons why she didn't want to go to the frat party—at least fifty percent of which would lead with the name Carmilla. LaFontaine agreed, and then said a quick bye before hanging up. Laura sighed and spun in her chair so that she was facing away from her computer. As she spun, her eye caught on her yellow pillow—her yellow pillow that was neatly placed on Carmilla's bed.

Her jaw dropped—she hadn't even noticed that it had been moved. Huffing, Laura got up and grabbed her pillow off of her roommate's bed, tossing it onto her own. This girl was crazy.

Laura barely saw her roommate on Sunday, and before she knew it, it was Monday. After going to her back to back lit and journalism classes, Laura returned her dorm understanding why everyone had wanted to party it out the weekend prior, and she was starting to regret her lack of recreation herself.

Luckily, she had started reading her lit textbook the previous day, so she didn't have anything to study for in that class—yet. Unfortunately, her Intro to Journalism professor had assigned a project. It wasn't a horrible project, but Laura was definitely not excited about it. She needed to film consistently over the next few weeks about something. The professor had given plenty of ideas out for the project, and Laura was still sort of at a loss for ideas.

As soon as she entered into her dorm room, she collapsed onto her bed in a huff. When her head landed on only one pillow—as opposed to her usual pair of pillows—her head turned of its own accord to look at Carmilla's bed, where her yellow pillow was tucked neatly against the shelf that served as the headboard for Carmilla's bed.

Before she could get up to grab it, though, Carmilla walked out of the bathroom. "Hey there, buttercup."

"I'm not in the mood," Laura snapped, standing up. Carmilla smirked as she sat on her own bed, which Laura marched over to in order to snatch her pillow back. "Can't you use your own pillows?"

"What's got you even more uptight than usual, cupcake?" Carmilla questioned as Laura stormed back across the short distance between their beds.

Laura sat down on her bed, hugging her yellow pillow against her chest, and looked at Carmilla questioningly. After a moment of hesitation, Laura gave in and answered, "Everyone was right. I should have enjoyed my weekend before classes started, and now I have no idea what to do for my journalism project."

"How about 'How To Turn a Naïve Teenager Into A Not-So-Uptight College Girl'," Carmilla suggested, her words dripping with sarcasm.

Despite her roommate's tone, though, Laura's eyes widened slightly. "That is actually a good—"

"Yeah, I was kidding," Carmilla interrupted. "I feel sorry for whoever it is that has to try and turn _you_ into a normal human being."

"LaFontaine and Perry have been trying to get me to 'grow up' anyway, I'm sure they'll want to help me with this," Laura commented, pretty much ignoring Carmilla.

"Those two?" Carmilla asked, rolling her eyes. "Please. They still need to grow up."

Laura looked at the brunette carefully. "You know Perry and LaFontaine?" Carmilla just shrugged, clearly not interested in answering the question. "Well, I don't have any other ideas for my project. So if you don't think that Perry and LaFontaine can help me stop being _naïve_, then I guess _you_ have to."

Carmilla raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"What, are you already tired of calling me uptight?" Laura demanded, raising her eyebrows right back at Carmilla. "Look, maybe I am a little bit. But I need to make an interesting project for this class if I'm going to start my journalism major off right, and you and I need to get over this weird, opposites thing."

"What _weird, opposites thing_?" Carmilla asked, looking confused.

"Us being roommates," Laura stated. "Clearly, the two of us are really opposite, and I'm not saying that either of us should change, but maybe we can find some sort of midway point."

"Why does it matter to you so much, cupcake?" Carmilla asked. Despite her use of another food nickname, she seemed to be genuinely asking the question.

"We are literally going to be living on top of each other in this place for two semesters of school," Laura stated, "and I don't want to feel uncomfortable in the only small section of space that is at least half mine."

Carmilla didn't say anything for a moment, and then she rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."

Laura's face lit up. "Awesome! Okay, we can start tomorrow. I have to do research."

"Research?" Carmilla repeated.

"It's part of the assignment," Laura answered, getting up from her bed, making sure to leave her yellow pillow clearly on top of her other one, and sat in front of her computer. As she opened her browser and started clicking away, Carmilla stood up and started for the door.

"Well, have fun with that, cutie," she said.

"Where are you going?" Laura wondered, glancing over her shoulder at her roommate, once again clad in all black.

"Psych class," Carmilla answered. Then she was out of the dorm room before Laura could even try to say anything else. Shaking her head, the blonde went back to her browser search. If she was going to actually do a video like this, she was going to do it right.

Not too long after Carmilla left, there was an insane knocking on Laura's dorm door. Curious, she hopped up from her chair and opened the door. In front of her was a tall guy with short blonde hair. "Can I help you?" Laura asked, looking up at him. Sometimes it sucked being so short.

"I'm Kirsch, from the Zeta Omega Mu fraternity," the guy stated, smiling widely.

Laura nodded slowly. "Okay, and?"

"Oh! All of us Zeta bros split up to introduce ourselves to different parts of the dorms," he stated. "It's our duty to protect the campus. If you're ever in trouble, you can call any Zeta members for assistance."

Still just nodding slowly, Laura answered with, "Alright, well, I'll keep that in mind."

"You're Laura, right? You're in my English Literature class," Kirsch commented.

"Yeah, that's me," Laura answered, smiling a thin smile. She didn't really want to tell Kirsch that she was busy and had things to do, because she didn't want to be rude.

"I didn't see you at the end of summer party on Saturday," he commented. "Why didn't you go?"

"How do you know that I didn't?" Laura asked, wondering if she was just radiating innocence.

"Well, the Zetas never forget when they see a hottie," Kirsch commented. Laura furrowed her eyebrows slightly, but before she could say anything about the comment, Kirsch added, "I should probably go—lots more dorms to visit before my next class."

"Alright," Laura stated, still sort of confused by the whole conversation. Kirsch smiled like a big, dopey puppy.

"Don't forget—the Zetas are always here to protect the campus!" he reminded her. She pursed her lips, raising her eyebrows slightly, and nodded that she remembered. With one last wide smile, Kirsch started back down the hallway.

Laura closed the door and pushed a bit of her hair out of her face as she sat back down at her computer. It was time to get down to business.

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**Felt like I had to introduce Kirsch, because I want him to pop up in future chapters sometime... so yeah, this was not the greatest chapter ever, but I promise they start to get better after this. Yeah becauseeeee after this chapter I finally gripped onto a solid plan! Woohoo!**

**So maybe review your thoughts? I know that not a ton of people read Carmilla or Hollstein fics on here, but if you are reading, you should review, so that I can be sure you guys like this :) **

**Have a lovely day everyone! It's feeling like a long one to me, but luckily, I had the day off of school today ;D**

**Please review!**


	4. Week One - Relaxed Person

**A/N: Hello my lovelies! As promised this morning on Twitter, here is the next chapter :) I'm so happy that more people have checked out this story! I would love if you guys could review and give me feedback? :)**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Carmilla.**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorie, follow and REVIEW!**

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"Okay!" Laura exclaimed excitedly the next day, when Carmilla was coming back into the dorm from her Tuesday Psychology class. Laura, on the other hand, didn't have any classes on Tuesdays, which was nice.  
"Oh no," Carmilla muttered at Laura's excitement.  
Laura completely ignored the comment. "So, I found two different lists. One of them is things that girls should do sometime during their college experiences, and the other is a list of things to do to relax a little and enjoy life. I took both of them and combined them together. There's twelve things on it all together, so I can do one thing each week for my project, and then I'll have one more week to compile the whole thing before I have to turn it into my Intro to Journalism professor."  
"And you need me because?" Carmilla asked, sounding utterly bored already.  
Laura flashed a glare at her roommate. "Because I could do some of these things but not actually experience them."  
"What do you mean?" Carmilla questioned.  
"Well," Laura started, "the first thing on my compiled list is to hang out with relaxed people. Which, obviously, you are."  
Carmilla smirked, because she could already tell that this was going to be entertaining. She was really curious to know what things were on this list of Laura's. "So, number one, check."  
"Well, I need to make a video for each one, so we can do that after I shower and get dressed so it doesn't look like I just rolled out of bed," Laura commented.  
"Whatever you say, cutie," Carmilla said, smirking. "What else is on that list of yours?"  
Laura looked at Carmilla suspiciously. "I'm not telling you." Carmilla raised her eyebrows as she sat on her bed, next to Laura's computer desk chair.  
"What are we, five?"  
"If I tell you what's on the list, you'll want to skip to different things," Laura stated.  
"So you're saying that I'm going to not want to help you do some of the things on this list?" Carmilla asked, though she really didn't care. She was honestly actually looking forward to this.  
"I'm just saying, I'm not defining an order for it. I have it on a list generator, so except for the first one, I don't know the order either," Laura stated. "I mean, I know what's on it, but if we both don't know the order, that's better, because then we can't skip around."  
"Alright, creampuff, whatever you say," Carmilla said. "You better go shower then, so we can get this first one over with."  
Laura couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face as she hopped out of her desk chair and went into the bathroom to shower—trying to ignore how messy Carmilla had left it that morning.  
Carmilla, in the meantime, let out a sigh. She felt weird being friendly with Laura, if only because they really were quite opposite. But, she still couldn't deny that there was just something about Laura that made her want to get to know her and to do stuff with her. It totally made her feel lame, but she didn't really care. Glancing around the room and looking for something to keep her busy while Laura was in the shower. Her eyes fell on the yellow pillow nestled neatly at the head of Laura's bed. Surprisingly, Laura hadn't confronted Carmilla about consistently stealing it—despite the previous day when she had been all mad—and Carmilla was kind of curious as to how long it would take for Laura to stop just stealing it back, and to actually tell her to stop taking it.  
So she got up, snatched the yellow pillow, and moved it to her bed. She propped it against her shelf headboard, leaned against it, and took out her iPhone to check all of her social media. She was doing her best not to think about Laura, because it seemed to be a problem over the past few days. She literally could not get this girl out of her head.  
When Laura finally came back into the room, she was wearing jeans and a loose, blue, button down top. "Okay, so don't say anything until I introduce you," Laura stated, sitting down in front of her computer and opening some video application.  
"Whatever you say, cupcake," Carmilla responded.  
"Can you stop saying 'whatever you say'?" Laura muttered, shaking her head and running her hand through her still damp hair quickly. Once she was sure that she was camera ready, she started recording, smiling at the camera. "Hi, I am Laura Hollis, and this is my project for the class Introduction To Journalism, titled 'The Relaxation Project'. The idea for my project came from the fact that I have been told to loosen up, and so I used different sources on the internet to comprise a list of things that 'college girls' should do at least one, and things to help people 'loosen up'."  
Carmilla did her best not to comment while Laura was word vomiting to the camera, but she couldn't help but smirk. Laura was pretty hilarious when she was talking like a computer.  
"While I have selected the things on my list, they are on a random list generator, so I have no idea the order that they will come up in," Laura continued. "Now, I will do one thing each week for the next twelve weeks, and this project will be able to track how much it actually ends up working."  
Once again, Carmilla bit her tongue to keep from piping up a comment.  
"Today is Week One, and the first item on my list says 'Hang out with relaxed people'," Laura stated. Finally, she turned slightly in her chair and gestured to Carmilla, "which is why she is here. This is Carmilla, my dorm roommate."  
"Sup," Carmilla said, still smirking, because this was just weird.  
"Carmilla is probably completely opposite of me. I could list the ways I've discovered that we are polar opposites in the last few days, but it would probably take way too long. One of those ways, though, is that she is a very relaxed person, unlike me. She has agreed to be my relaxed person, and she has also agreed to help me through my twelve step list. Carmilla, would you like to introduce yourself?" Laura asked, looking back at Carmilla.  
"Didn't you just do that for me?" Carmilla said, raising an eyebrow. Laura rolled her eyes.  
"Whatever," she commented. "Anyway, Week One isn't so exciting, but the coming weeks will mostly at least require me leaving my dorm room. So… until then!" She turned off the video and then glared at Carmilla. "Really? You couldn't even say one nice thing?"  
"It's not like I said some mean thing," Carmilla pointed out.  
"Ugh, what am I getting myself into?" Laura muttered, shaking her head slightly. Suddenly, her flip phone beeped. Carmilla watched her carefully as she checked the message. "Oh, it's Perry. I have to go."  
"You're welcome for helping you with your video thing," Carmilla said as Laura got up from the chair.  
Laura rolled her eyes. "You didn't even do anything helpful."  
"I'm here, aren't I, buttercup?" Carmilla asked, looking at Laura pointedly. Laura hesitated for a moment, because she was trying to read into things—which was totally like her.  
"Fine, thank you," she finally gave in. "I'll be back sometime later."  
"Looking forward to it," Carmilla muttered sarcastically. Laura didn't respond, instead choosing to just leave the dorm. In the meantime, Carmilla decided that it was time for a nap—using Laura's yellow pillow of course.

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**Soooo I can't say that this fic is my most impressive work ever, but I love the dialogue and I'm just sort of having fun with it, so I hope hat you all are enjoying it!**

**Also... this is my first FF update EVER from my BRAND NEW LAPTOP! Woohoo! I usually inherit old laptops, but my parents were tired of having to help me fix my old, stupid laptop, so they bought me and my sister each a new one! YAY :) So, I spent a good two hours or so setting it all up, making my slideshow background and such... hehe :) And now here was the first update from it, woohoo!**

**I have a funny, Carmilla related story. So, I have this one friend that I'm always snapchatting (like, it's our main form of communication) and when I'm bored I always just snap her videos of me literally word vomiting. And a few days ago I was talking about Carmilla and then I was fangirling about how Elise is the most adorable person ever and how her Canadian accent is the only one that I think is cute. The next day, I was asking her about her phone background or whatever, and then I was like "yeah, you would judge me if you saw mine" and I had totally forgotten that I had told her my background was Elise when I was snapchatting her... and hse was like "no I won't. Anyway, it's that girl from that web series you're watching" and I was like "OMG YASS" because idk i just get really happy when people who don't watch things that I watch remember all of the shit that I tell them...**

**Anyway.. moving on with life...**

**It's time for me to go to bed, so I hope that you all have a lovely night/day! Review maybe? :)**


	5. A Not So Pleasant Pleasantry

**A/N: Sorry for the delay... you guys should've seen my schedule for the last week. I had a billion tests and grades to study for and then on Friday I was at school for an extra four hours, and then I was at school again for four hours on Saturday, and I had so much homework. I managed to finish a chapter of this just now, though, so yay! Hopefully a chapter of WAYF will also be up today. :)**

**Side note: I sort of spaced when I was writing this chapter, and I said that Carmilla is majoring in psychology, when I meant philosophy. However, since I realized the mistake further in, I decided to leave it and just work in a small storyline with it. So don't get mad at me about it.**

**Also, considering changing this story category to Web Shows? I feel like that's where more Hollstein fics are? Thoughts?**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Carmilla!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"What's got you in such a weird mood?" Perry questioned Laura while they waited for LaFontaine to meet them at the coffee shop.

Laura shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"You just seem squirmy or nervous or something," Perry commented, raising her eyebrows.

"I'm not," Laura insisted. "How were your first two days of being a sophomore in college?" Perry obviously knew that the question was asked purely for the sake of a topic change, but she didn't press the squirmy issue any further.

"They were fine. What about you? How are you liking your classes so far?" Perry wondered.

"I like them. Yesterday I was a little stressed out, but I'm happy with my Lit and Journalism classes. Though, I have this long Journalism project. I have to make a video journal every week – it basically has to be me consistently talking about or doing the same thing, or things dedicated to a single task," Laura explained. "It's probably going to take a lot of work."

"What's your topic?" Perry asked.

"Ah—it's a little complicated," Laura answered, realizing that she had sort of strung herself back around to the squirmy topic. Because yes, Carmilla being involved in her journalism project was sort of making her get filled with a nervous excitement. Why? She wished that she knew.

"What's complicated?" LaFontaine asked as she approached the table.

"Laura's journalism project topic, apparently," Perry answered, looking at Laura with interest. LaFontaine joined them at the table, and Laura looked in between her ginger best friends.

"Well, everyone keeps telling me to _grow up_ or to _loosen up_, so… my project is basically twelve different things that people are supposed to do to be less uptight and things that people in college should experience," Laura explained, waiting for the expected responses.

"Okay, well what's so complicated about that?" LaFontaine questioned.

"Aside from the fact that it's probably going to be entirely inappropriate for your intro to journalism class," Perry muttered.

Laura gave Perry a pointed look. "I thought about that, but I mean, it's creative and it's interesting. The journalism world isn't uptight at all, you know what I mean? Anyway, it's supposed to be something original, and there are people in my class doing way weirder things, trust me."

"Freshmen," Perry muttered under her breath. Laura gave Perry an "are you serious?" look, but before she could say anything about the comment, LaFontaine was speaking again.

"Okay, well if that's not what makes it complicated then, what is?" the short-haired redhead questioned.

Laura bit the inside of her lip. "I had to enlist my _jerk face_ roommate to help me."

"Carmilla?" LaFontaine asked, despite already knowing the answer. "Why? I thought that you hated her."

"I do. I mean, I think I do. She can't seem to resist calling me _cupcake_ and _buttercup_ and _creampuff_ at every chance she gets, but she can help me with some of the things on my list," Laura stated. "Plus, I don't want me and her to be in this weird, complete opposites, roommate position all year."

"So ask for a roommate change," Perry stated. Laura just shrugged, because for some reason, she actually didn't want a roommate change. She sort of didn't mind Carmilla being her roommate, which was totally crazy and she wasn't going to tell anyone that she even thought like that for more than a second.

"Well, she agreed to help me with my project, so it's not the worst thing ever," Laura stated. "Though, she keeps stealing my pillow, which is slightly annoying."

"She sounds creepy if you ask me," LaFontaine stated. "I'm going to go grab a coffee. I'll be right back."

As LaFontaine got up, Perry said, "Well, if you decide you want a roommate change after all, I can put that request in for you, as the official floor don."

Laura smiled. "Thanks, Per."

Laura got back to her dorm a few hours later, after hanging out with Perry and LaFontaine at their dorm. She immediately picked up the sound of the shower going, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. It didn't take more than a second for eyes to fall on her yellow pillow, and she huffed as she grabbed it off of Carmilla's bed and tossed it onto her own. Then, she grabbed some pajamas from her armoire and went to her computer. She trolled the default news site while she waited for Carmilla to get out of the bathroom.

When the door finally opened, Carmilla didn't even say anything to Laura, instead just walking straight to her bed.

Laura didn't let it bother her, choosing to get up and go into the bathroom. As she saw the mess left by her _oh so pleasant_ roommate, she made a mental note to get back earlier so that she could have the bathroom before it looked like this. Though, either way, if Carmilla refused to clean up her mess, this place was always going to be messy.

Sighing, she got into the shower.

Carmilla, in the meantime, was contemplating whether or not to snatch back Laura's pillow. Eventually, she vetoed the idea, because she knew that Laura would be going to sleep soon, and she would definitely notice. So instead, Carmilla went to the dorm's mini fridge, stealing one of Laura's grape sodas.

Settling in on her bed, she trolled the internet through her smart phone, sipping away at her stolen soda, and forcing her mind to ignore every thought that came to her mind about her tiny, blonde roommate.

Saturday. A week of classes now in the past, leaving one very exhausted Laura. Yes, she had expected college to be hard, but she never imagined that she would need twelve hours of sleep to recover. Of course, in her defense, she had spent the entire summer doing anything that was completely opposite of school, so she wasn't yet used to the whole schedule.

She had her English Literature class on Monday and Wednesday, and her Intro to Journalism class on Monday back to back with her Lit class. Thursday was her Global Connections class and her course on Communication Law—two agonizingly long classes. And Friday was her Digital Journalism class—one that was almost exactly the same as her Intro to Journalism class, only with less projects and more textbook reading, which almost felt backwards to Laura.

Nevertheless, she woke up at ten in the morning on Saturday, still feeling exhausted despite herself. When she awoke, she saw Carmilla sitting up in her own bed, looking like she was studying. She appeared to have been awake for hours, which honestly just aggravated Laura. "How are you not still sleeping?" she demanded, aware that she sounded just as tired as she felt.

Carmilla smirked. "Well, one of us is actually intelligent and has a class on Tuesday in order to not have any on Friday. And cutie, it isn't you."

Laura rolled her eyes, forcing herself to sit up on her bed. "The class was only available on Fridays."

"A sign that should have told you to not take it," Carmilla stated matter-of-factly.

"What even are you majoring in?" Laura wondered, raising her eyebrows across the room at her roommate.

"Psychology," Carmilla stated, not looking up from her book.

"So, is that your psych book then that is so captivating that you can't even look up to participate in a conversation?" Laura questioned, waiting for Carmilla to give in and look up from her book—something she hadn't done since Laura started talking.

Carmilla smirked again. "I can participate in a conversation just fine without looking up at you, sweetheart."

Laura ran her hand through her hair, groaning. She wished that she could sleep for hours more, but she knew that another round of classes were going to start on Monday, and that she couldn't sleep the entire time before then. Actually, considering how much sleep Carmilla had been getting during the second half of the week, Laura had half expected _her_ to sleep all weekend. So there's to surpassing expectations. "So, do you give everybody food nicknames?"

"Nope," Carmilla answered, still smirking. Laura would never be able to figure this girl out.

"Alright," Laura muttered, standing up and stretching out her arms.

Carmilla had to force herself not to look at the tank top—or lack thereof—that rose up as Laura stretched, revealing her flat stomach. The brunette actually wondered if Laura was doing that on purpose, but she decided that she probably wasn't. There was no way that Laura had noticed that Carmilla actually sort of liked her. Carmilla was way too careful for that.

As Laura disappeared into the bathroom, Carmilla grabbed Laura's pillow and placed it on her own bed, leaning against it as she continued reading out of her actually relatively interesting psychology textbook.

When Laura emerged, she was surprised as Carmilla immediately started talking. "So, when are we doing your next video thing?"

"Um…" Laura blinked, because she realized that she didn't actually know.

"Because I have class on Tuesday, and you have class on Friday. Which basically leaves Saturday," Carmilla stated. "And since you started on Tuesday, shouldn't you technically be doing your second video today?"

Laura counted the thirteen weeks in her head and realized that Carmilla was right. However, this meant that Laura would have to actually get dressed and _make_ a video. "Yeah, you're right. Please excuse me while I get changed and attempt to not fall asleep in the process."

Carmilla smirked, finally looking up at Laura as the girl dug through her armoire for something to wear. She averted her eyes again when Laura was facing her, and then as she entered the bathroom, Carmilla watched her. She couldn't really put her finger on what was so intriguing about this girl. Something about her just made Carmilla smile—and that was a hard thing to do.

* * *

**I had to go online to research all the classes people take for Journalism majors, and I picked all the ones I felt that Laura would be taking. It took me like half an hour lol. Bc I'm a nerd and I had to know EXACTLY which classes. Anywaaaaay...**

**Maybe review what you thought about it? Also, follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana, and tweet me that you read this for a follow back. ALSO, check out my YouTube channel (Tana Channel) and tweet me that you did and I will give you a shoutout, woohoo! :D :)**

**Thanks for reading lovelies :) See you soon c: Have a lovely night! Please review!**


	6. Week Two - The Rager

**A/N: Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Tana... where have you been? Why would you disappear during the hiatus that seemed endless? That's when we truly needed Hollstein in our lives!" Yes, I know. Let's all rage at me for a moment: TANA WTF WHY STOP DOING THAT AND YOU GOT OUT OF SCHOOL LIKE LAST WEEK YOU SHOULD HAVE UPDATED LIKE SIXTY TIMES ALREADY. K.**

**So! :D I got a little bit out of the Carmilla groove during the hiatus, but let's be real, that kiss last Tuesday shook everyone from their Hollstein hearts all the way down to their souls. And well, I've gotten back a little into the groove :) Woohoo c:**

**So here I am! With another update, and more lined up :) If you follow me on here you may have noticed that I went a little crazy. I started a Clexa fanfic on top of my Emison story, my Quinntana story, and this story. Then I finished the Quinntana story in order to post a Spashley story. So yeah I'm insane. Also my two French fics are being updated again (yay for translators) and I've begun to beta for two different people so whoa. Basically dug myself into a hole. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that updates for all of my stories will be slower, but I will be trying to update them all relatively equally. I tend to pick and choose, so I'm trying not to do that :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Carmilla and if I did then I would hug Elise Bauman forever.**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"Alright," Laura said, coming out of the bathroom a second, only this time looking much more presentable than before, in a cute little dress and with makeup on her face. Carmilla could even admit that she was sort of adorable. "Let's see what number two is on our list."

"Your list," Carmilla corrected. "Shouldn't you say it when your camera is rolling, for the dramatic effect?"

"What dramatic effect?" Laura asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Exactly. You won't have one until you read the next thing on the list while the camera is on," Carmilla stated matter-of-factly. Laura just stared at Carmilla for a moment, trying to figure her out.

"Umm, okay," Laura agreed, knitting her eyebrows together again as she looked back toward her computer. She started the recording, smiling brightly at the camera. "Welcome to week two of The Relaxation Project. I am about to launch my list generator to check which of the things on my list is next."

Carmilla couldn't help at smirk at the formal tone that Laura had switched to as soon as the camera was on. Laura clicked a few things with her mouse on the computer, and Carmilla tried not to be so obviously curious as to what the next thing on the list was. Laura might not be able to see her now, but when she was editing all of these videos together, Carmilla would be damned if the blonde could see any sort of real interest in her expression.

"Well," Laura said, sounding considerably less excited now, which only resulted to peak Carmilla's curiosity. "This week's step is to attend a college party—otherwise known as a _rager_."

Carmilla snickered, and Laura sent her a glare. "What?" Carmilla demanded. "Don't look so distressed, cupcake. The Zetas are throwing another party tonight."

Laura groaned. "Maybe I should skip this."

"Are you kidding?" Carmilla demanded. "You are forcing me to help you with this weird project of yours, and so far, the only thing you need to do for it is go to a _party_. Are you really that disappointed?"

Laura bit her lower lip, half out of embarrassment, and half because Carmilla was now sitting upright on her bed, and her short cut top was riding up slightly. "I mean…"

"You _mean_, cupcake, that you're going to _relax_, and go to the party tonight," Carmilla finished for her.

"Why are you so insistent about the party thing?" Laura asked. "You _really_ wanted me to go last weekend, too."

"Because parties are _fun_," Carmilla insisted.

"Well I doubt that I will be any fun," Laura said. At this point in her conversation, she had nearly forgotten that the camera was even on. "The last party I went to was at the beginning of summer, and it was a _high school_ party. I've heard that they're a lot different."

Carmilla smirked. Laura was entirely too innocent and adorable sometimes. "Well, that's what I'm here for, right?"

Laura let out a light sigh, nodding. She finally remembered to turn back to the camera, which was actually perfect timing, because she probably would have ended up awkwardly staring at Carmilla instead. "Well, I will be sure to take some video footage of the _party_ tonight, and… besides that, see you next week." She stopped the recording and then let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

"You okay there, buttercup?" Carmilla teased.

Laura glared at the brunette again. "I'm fine. I need to find something to wear to the party tonight. What time are we going?"

"Whatever time you want to go, cutie," Carmilla stated. Laura was pretty positive that Carmilla was intentionally using her pet names extra excessively _just_ to bother her.

After Laura managed to find an outfit that she deemed acceptable for a party, she settled into her bed to work on homework that she didn't want to be working on the following day.

Carmilla, in the meantime, was reading her psychology textbook, and wondering how Laura hadn't noticed her missing pillow. Honestly, that was the focus of her thoughts, even as she flipped through the pages of the huge book, absorbing most all the information despite her distraction.

That's what Laura was, a major distraction. Carmilla was having a harder and harder time focusing on other things when she was around Laura. She couldn't explain it really, and she was pretty sure that she was having a similar effect on her roommate. Of course, she wasn't going to say anything about it. They'd known each other for a week. Maybe a little longer, and Carmilla would start going in for it. And who knew? Maybe this crazy project of Laura's could help move along the process.

After Laura finished her homework, downed at least two cans of grape soda, and stuffed about ten cookies, the sun was starting to set, and she decided that it was time to go to the party. "Okay, I'm going to change, and then we can go."

Carmilla just gave a lame nod, because she was already ready to go to the party. Her usual attire—which she tended to sleep in as well—was suitable for basically any occasion, at least in her mind. Laura grabbed some clothing and disappeared into the bathroom.

When she emerged, she was wearing dark wash skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt that, if Carmilla was being honest, flatteringly accentuated her boobs. Despite her appearance, though, Laura seemed nervous. "I don't really have any _party_ clothes."

"You look fine," Carmilla insisted.

"Are you just saying that because I'm so pathetic that you feel obligated to say it?" Laura demanded, though her tone hinted that she wasn't actually as insecure about her appearance as she had originally seemed.

"Laura, you are not an unattractive person," Carmilla stated evenly, "and you look perfectly fine in your chosen party attire."

It only took a second for Laura to realize that this was the first time that Carmilla had actually called her by her first name. She usually defaulted to nicknames like _cupcake_ and _cutie_ and _creampuff_. Laura did her best not to look overly flattered at the compliment combined with the sincerity. "Thanks," she managed, aware that her voice was coming out softer than it normally did when she was speaking to her generally jerk-like roommate. "So, should we go?"

They didn't say much as they made their way out of their room and across the campus to the Zeta Omega Mu's fraternity house. Seeing as it was already dark out, the place was lit up in dozens of colors, and loud music was coming from every direction- as if the surround sound was in the air itself. People were spread all throughout the front of the frat house, practically spilling out of the entrance. "Is like, _everybody_ who goes to this school here?"

"You'd be surprised to know, cupcake," Carmilla started, "that people actually _enjoy_ parties, and _willingly_ attend them."

Laura didn't respond, instead taking out her portable camera and turning on the video.

"What are you doing?" Carmilla questioned seriously, raising an eyebrow.

"Filming- for my project, obviously," Laura stated. "So here we are, at the Zeta Omega Mu frat party. Yes, it's my first frat party. And of course, here is my broody roommate."

"Am I broody?" Carmilla asked rhetorically, purposely avoiding the lens on the camera with her eyes.

Laura giggled-a sound that Carmilla was honestly surprised to hear. "She's being just as dark and mysterious as normal, obviously." Carmilla felt her cheeks heat up, and she was incredibly grateful for the darkness and the multicolored lights that hid her blush. "Anyway, we just got here, and we're about to go inside, I guess."

"So, relaxed person advises that you ditch the camera, cutie," Carmilla stated, hoping that her blush was gone. "We want to look at least a little normal and not like we're at a tourist attraction."

"Fine," Laura gave in, stopping the recording and slipping the small camera back into her back pocket. "Let's go!"

Carmilla raised her eyebrows at the blonde. "Who are you and what did you do to my roommate?"

"I don't know, I'm just excited!" Laura exclaimed. Carmilla smirked, and she started into the frat house. She had only been there once- just the previous week -but she felt like she remembered it pretty well. And as she led Laura inside, she suddenly became aware of the feeling of responsibility that was lingering in her mind. She felt like she needed to keep Laura safe. And call her crazy, but she wasn't used to feeling like that about anyone- at least she hadn't for a long time. "I wonder if Perry and LaFontaine are here somewhere," Laura wondered.

"Probably somewhere," Carmilla answered lazily. "I'm going to grab something to drink. You want something?"

Laura nodded, but she didn't specify whether she wanted something alcoholic or not. Carmilla just decided to get her whatever looked the safest- she figured that anything not alcoholic had probably been spiked already anyway. It was, after all, a frat party.

"Don't get lost while I'm gone," Carmilla sarcastically advised, before heading toward where she recalled drinks being the last time that she was there.

Laura stayed behind, slightly intrigued by Carmilla. She seemed slightly different all day. Despite the normal teasing, she seemed to be a lot more genuine, or at least she was getting better at sounding concerned. Whether or not she actually was, now that was the real question.

* * *

**Mm I'm excited to finally continue this story :D Woohoo! :)**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter lovelies! Drop me a review, maybe? ^.^**

**Thanks for being amazing! Have a lovely night :D Please review! ;D**


	7. The Start Of Something Good?

**A/N: Today is a good day for us Americans :) #LoveWins So I decided that tonight I would try to update all 4 of my English WIP fics! This is update #3 :P If any of you read my Clexa fic, that will be the last one to go up, and also it may be the only one that doesn't get updated. I may have to wait until tomorrow:( But three out of four is better than none, right? :P**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Carmilla!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

Halfway through their time at the party, Laura knew that she was at least tipsy at this point. If she was being honest, she was pretty sure that she'd caught Carmilla watering down her last few drinks, and she was starting to suspect that the brunette wasn't even drinking at all herself. Despite her bad girl exterior, it was almost like Carmilla was a decent person.

Laura's tipsy brain had already started to feel partly bad about how angry she'd been at Carmilla being her roommate - but she reminded herself about the thick, dark hair in the shower drain, and her disappearing pillow, and she forgot to feel bad.

Carmilla wasn't having as much fun at the party as Laura was – the blonde was actually talking to people and drinking and being a semi-normal human being, likely not noticing that Carmilla was actually spending her full time making sure that Laura didn't get wasted. She totally would have too, because she'd had at least four drinks of the "fruit punch" too many, and if Carmilla hadn't have watered them down, Laura would be plastered. Carmilla could hardly enjoy herself while watching Laura's every move, but seeing the girl let loose a little and laugh and have fun wasn't horrible.

It was at least midnight when most people started to spill out from the frat house. Carmilla found it slightly humorous that she could watch people leaving and guess how they would be spending the evening. The girls stumbling over their heels would probably end the night by crying, or puking, or both. The couples dragging each other out of the door were _obviously_ going to enjoy their night – though they probably wouldn't remember it in the morning. There weren't many of those couples, though, because many of them had found a room in the frat house already. Carmilla thought that was absolutely disgusting. She loved sex as much as the next girl, but having it on a random bed in a random frat house was not something that sounded at all appealing.

Then there were girls like Laura, giggling and laughing with their friends, walking out together with their arms linked together and a little too much alcohol in their blood. There were few people like Carmilla – almost entirely sober – because there was hardly a need for designated drivers when nearly everyone lived in the dorms that were a short walk away. Not to mention that most people weren't looking after party newbies.

It was a few minutes after midnight when Carmilla decided that it was time to scoop Laura up and go back to the dorm. "Hey, cutie," Carmilla interjected into whatever conversation Laura was having with some girls from her Intro to Journalism class, "we should head out."

Laura pouted. "But I'm having fun."

Carmilla tried not to let the adorable voice and ever more adorable pout sway her decision. "Well finish having fun, because you are going to have a horrible Sunday if you drink anymore, cupcake."

Laura gave in, saying a quick goodbye to the group of girls, and then following Carmilla out of the frat house. "So, out of all of the weird food nicknames – plus 'cutie' – why do you use 'cupcake' the most?"

"What kind of question is that?" Carmilla asked, giving Laura an incredulous look.

"A legitimate one," Laura answered, struggling slightly with the longer word of the three. "Also, you totally used my name earlier."

"So? Big deal, I said your name," Carmilla said, not liking where this conversation was going.

"You _never_ say my name. You always give me _food_ nicknames," Laura stated matter-of-factly. "But you called me _Laura_ today when I was worried about my outfit."

"Good for you, cupcake, your short term memory is still intact," Carmilla muttered sarcastically. She didn't want to talk about earlier during that outfit decision – mainly because Carmilla was almost embarrassed about having complimented Laura so obviously.

Laura giggled, and Carmilla couldn't even stop the edge of her mouth from slipping upwards slightly. "Are we almost home? I want some soda."

"Of course you do," Carmilla said, trying not to laugh. This girl, whom she had known for just a week and a day, kept having weirder and weirder effects on her. Also, despite her desperate tries not to, she was actually sort of enjoying the change.

They finally walked up to the dorm building, and Carmilla made sure that Laura got all the way up to their dorm without her tripping up any steps at all. Then, she tried to gently guide her to her bed.

"Lay down, cupcake. I'll get you soda."

Laura's eyes were glued to Carmilla as the brunette opened the fridge to retrieve one of Laura's precious grape sodas. She popped it open and walked back to Laura's bed, handing it to her. "Thanks," Laura said lamely, taking a sip of the fizzy drink.

"Thank me by going to sleep," Carmilla insisted. "I'm tired and I don't want to take care of you all night."

Laura felt the alcohol make her giggle into her soda can. "Okay, I really probably should sleep anyway."

"That's the spirit," Carmilla said in a monotone voice that she was trying to force. She still had to remain composed around this girl. "Go to sleep."

The lights were turned off by a tired Carmilla, and Laura curled into her bed. Her last thought as she drifted to sleep was to question whether or not her yellow pillow was tucked neatly under her head, or under Carmilla's.

When she woke up, it was sitting in the middle of the floor, so she had no way of knowing if her intoxicated self had knocked it off of the bed, or if Carmilla had knocked it off.

Carmilla was nowhere to be seen in the tiny room, but Laura shrugged it off, getting out of her bed to grab her pillow. As soon as she stood up, though, she had to sit back down, pain spiking through her head. "Damn," she muttered, running her fingers through her tangled hair and blinking away the sleep in her eyes. Taking deep breaths, she forced herself up, grabbing her pillow and tossing it back onto her bed, and then stumbling into the bathroom.

After a quick shower and a decent amount of time making herself presentable, she finally left the bathroom. Her eyes instantly fell on her roommate, sprawled over her bed and reading her Psych book. "Morning," she said, not looking up from her book.

Laura just raised her eyebrows slightly in response. "I need coffee."

Carmilla watched as the blonde left the room, before directing her attention back to her Psychology book. She had told Laura that she was majoring in Psychology, but she actually hadn't picked her major yet. She'd gone into college with an idea of what she wanted to do, but the more she read out of this textbook, the more she realized that she was _not_ a psych major.

Luckily, she was taking many different types of classes. Philosophy was starting to grow on her, and she was considering looking into that major.

Suddenly, her dorm room door flew open, and her gaze instantly jumped up curiously. It was the redheads – the floor don Perry and her friend LaFontaine, both of whom were friends with Laura. "Is Laura here?" Perry questioned, looking over at Carmilla once she realized that the blonde was not in the room.

"You just missed her," Carmilla muttered, stretching out the word 'just' in a way that she knew frustrated most people.

"Do you know where she went?" LaFontaine asked. Neither her nor Perry had actually met Carmilla yet, but they'd both heard about her enough from Laura – mostly complaints about her being lazy, but also about Laura's journalism project. Likewise, Carmilla hadn't met either of the redheads until now, but she had seen them and heard about them. She made it her business to know people.

"Yep," Carmilla answered, smirking.

"Can you tell us please?" LaFontaine pushed, rolling her eyes.

"She went to go get coffee." And with that, Perry and LaFontaine were gone. Carmilla rolled her eyes and continued reading her textbook. After a few minutes of not being able to focus, however, she got up, retrieved Laura's yellow pillow, and returned to her bed. Now, she could focus.

* * *

**Thanks for reading lovelies! Please review? :)**

**Have a lovely day! #LoveWins**


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